ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to follow Alfred Schutz's path in order to demonstrate the topicality of a phenomenological perspective in the field of social studies, especially in the area of the sociology of emotions. The text will deal with the theme of empathy, an issue on which a flourishing literature is developing in various disciplinary fields, attempting to put into dialogue the sociology of emotions and the broad phenomenological debate on the notion of Einfühlung, in a perspective of mutual implementation. Starting from these assumptions, it will be shown how the sociological perspective can provide its own contribution to the most recent reflections on the concept of empathy, posing important challenges and stimuli to the phenomenological account of this concept. At the same time, the mobilization of the phenomenological thought will allow to define a theoretical framework within which the investigation of the empathic experience can develop, offering new insights and tools to the contemporary debate on empathy. This path will lead to advance the idea of outlining a genuine socio-phenomenological perspective on empathy.
